Chickpea Stew with Ginger

Chickpeas are front and center here. This is an all chickpea stew in really delicious gravy. If you enjoy chickpeas as much as I do, this recipe is unquestionably for you.

The mainspring here comes from the comradeship among ingredients.

This stew is an amalgam of Indian tastes and stars a few of that country’s most famous contributions to the cooking pot. These ingredients are considered unique to Indian cooking and are part of the reason why even this simple chickpea stew tastes so lavish.

Front and center is asafetida, derived from the resin of a carrot-like root. It is then dried and powdered – so far, so good.

What I can’t find words to explain is this: asafetida is potent and really odiferous! It has its own language when you open the bottle. Don’t be shy! Get past your inner censor.

Adding a pinch in any oil will infuse the air with the fragrance of cooked onions.

It is your ally! Asafetida has been charming pots of food for thousands of years.

Open the small bottle, take a pinch and use it in this recipe. Store the remainder in a lidded glass jar.

Amchur (mango powder) is simply green mangos that are ground into powder. Amchur adds a sour sparkle. An amusing lemony sour overtone comes with a (just a) pinch or two.

If your first use was to make this recipe, next time sprinkle a pinch of amchur in the fruit salad, or on spinach, or even corn. I like to sprinkle amchur on yogurt and cucumbers.

Both asafetida and mango powder are readably available in any Indian market.

A trip to the most Indian markets is beneficial to your health: the vegetables are gorgeously fresh and the spices typically less expensive. Usually near the door are large sacks of fragrant basmati rice. Buy one!

Or order these spices on line.

All the other ingredients are actors with familiar, worldly roles, all associated with many other cuisines. Every culture knows a good thing once they taste it.

Hate cilantro? Substitute fresh mint.

Chilies are present too. Make this recipe spicy, pulsating – or not. Just remember, chili blooms upon sitting. You can always offer freshly chopped chilies at the table.

Garnish

Wash the beans in several changes of water. Soak overnight in water to cover. Drain the water before using.

or

Cover the dried beans with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the burner. Let the beans sit covered for an hour.

Discard the chickpea soaking water. Boil the drained chickpeas in 8 cups of water. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. The chickpeas should easily crush between two fingers. Drain and save 4 cups of the cooking liquid.

Cut the jalapeño in half. Cut half the jalapeño into slices, then chop into tiny pieces. Reserve the other half for the table, if you so choose.

Don’t touch your face or eyes until a thorough washing of your hands with soap.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add in the ginger and garlic. Stir and cook for one minute.

Add the cumin seeds and asafetida. Sizzle and stir. Cook for 30 seconds.

Add the drained chickpeas, turmeric, ground coriander, dried mango and jalapeño. Stir fry and cook all the ingredients in the oil for 1 minute.

Add in the saved 4 cups of chickpea broth. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Take off the cover and turn up the heat. Boil and reduce for another 10 minutes. Slide off burner.

Use the potato masher on ¼ of the chickpeas. Knock the masher against the inside of the pan to “clean.”

Taste for seasoning. The broth should be full-bodied. Add salt if needed.

Serving

Heat the chickpeas in its own broth.

Add in lemon juice and the cilantro. Taste for salt.

Add more chili (to your taste). Remember, chili “blooms.”

Serve the chickpea stew in a covered casserole.

Chickpea Stew with Ginger can be made a few days before and reheated. Just don’t add the lemon juice or cilantro until you are ready to heat and serve.

I like to serve naan with this recipe.

You can find commercially packaged kosher (with a good hechsher) Indian naan bread off the shelves of many better supermarkets, not to mention all Indian markets...

Indian Dry-Spiced Black Beans

with Slow-Cooked Onions

This is a delicious, simple vegetarian, one-pot recipe from the accomplished bean cooking land of India. They know many ways to tease out a bean’s taste and texture.

You can parboil the beans and then start cooking within an hour. Or soak the black beans overnight. With either method, the old water gets drained. Adding fresh new water later will make the beans less gaseous!

The black beans and fresh water go into the pot, along with all other ingredients.

Everything gets cook together for about 3-3½ hours. Then the beans get mashed in with a few spoons of both yogurt and butter.

Continued cooking yields the equivalent of Indian “refried beans.” The finished mash has a reddish-brown tint as well.

The beans are good on their own, but the Indians are the ultimate seasoning demons.

The beans will be topped off with slowly fried “chopped liver-style” onions.

This splendid, easy, cooked onion garnish provides the beans an accomplished finale: an invitation to your spoon and your taste buds to partake.

The Indians would cook their onions using ghee. Ghee is butter without milk solids (whey). As a cooking medium and a taste, ghee can’t be duplicated: you get the delicious taste of butter without any burning. Of course, unadulterated butter can be used as well…

Ghee is easy to make and it keeps! And your French toast will never be the same.

A few personal words about how this recipe use chilies: it is not about their heat, it is about the bean.

Almost all beans seem to benefit from a cooking pot “conversation” with some sort of chili. Many cuisines seem to mirror this notion.

The chili is the stage manager and gets to narrate the seasoning action. It’s the “Our Town” of ingredients. While I enjoy a subtle narration, you might like a loud one.

Wash the bean in several changes of water. Soak overnight in water to cover. Drain the water before using.

or

Cover the dried beans with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the burner. Let the beans sit covered for an hour.

When to proceed, drain the water out.

Make sure to avoid touching your face or eyes when working with chilies.

Slice the chili in half. Use the amount that makes you feel comfortable. I use 1½” of a jalapeño.

The chilies will be a subtle note in the finished dish. If you want it louder, add more!

Grate the peeled ginger using the large holes of a box grater.

Peel the garlic cloves and smash each clove with the back of a knife.

Place the drained beans, chili, garlic, ginger, salt and measured water into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil.

Bring the heat way down to low. Cover with the lid slightly ajar. Cook for about 3-3½ hours. The beans should easily squish between your fingers.

Finishing

While beans are cooking, slice the onion in half. Place cut side down and slice into ½” moons.

If using ghee, heat in a frying pan over low heat.

If using butter, add in the vegetable oil over low heat to keep the butter from burning.

Add in the onions.

Adjust the heat to medium low. Stir occasionally.

Fry until the onions start to change color – about 15 minutes

Lower the heat and stir as needed, letting the onions slowly cook for another 15-20 minutes. Some will be darker than others.

After the beans are cooked, slightly mash the beans. I use a potato masher, but a large kitchen spoon will do. Use a large kitchen spoon to press the beans into the sides the cooking pot, mashing them.

Some beans should remain whole, others “mashed.”

Add in the yogurt and butter. Stir. Cook uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes. Occasionally stir the beans as they reduce.

At this point, the beans should be reddish-brown, thick with very little, if any, broth. Continue to cook until the beans bubble slowly like lava inside the pot.

Serving

Cover and reheat the beans over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Taste for seasoning. Make sure the beans have enough salt and pepper.

Remember – chilies bloom! They become hotter over time.

Once the beans are sufficiently hot, scrape into a serving dish.

Top the beans with the onions.

Sprinkle with fresh cilantro or mint.

I like to serve naan with this recipe.

You can find commercially packaged kosher (with a good hechsher) Indian naan bread off the shelves of many better supermarkets, not to mention all Indian markets.

Excerpted from Remaining Kosher Volume Two: A Cookbook for All with a Hechsher in Their Heart. Click here to see the eBook at Apple. Or visit: LaurenStacyBerdy.com.